St Johnstone 1 - 0 Hearts: Jefferies in a jam with work to do

Published on Saturday 30 January 2010 21:22

Deuchar 51

&#149 Arm's length: Hearts right-back Jason Thomson tussles with Saints skipper Dave Mackay.

THE more things change the more they stay the same. Change is something Hearts fans have grown used to but as they turned up at McDiarmid Park yesterday they were greeted with the sight of former captain Gary Locke and Jim Jefferies' long-term assistant Billy Brown taking the warm-up.

The official line, given that a pay-off was still to be agreed with Csaba Laszlo's assistant Werner Burger, was that neither had, as yet, signed contracts to join forces with the new Hearts gaffer and the pair were simply lending their support. But the fact they were decked out in club tracksuits with their initials suggest a more long-term arrangement is in the offing.

As Jefferies emerged behind the players for the start of the match there was a mutual show of affection. The away crowd rose as one to welcome back one of their own and he reciprocated.

He claimed the appointment had got his juices flowing but as the play got under way it became clear that, while he has undoubtedly inherited a team more accomplished than the Kilmarnock one he left behind, there is still much to work on. The only thing flowing for large parts of the match was the St Johnstone play.

Jefferies had apparently taken a few stabs at David Kucharski's name in a pre-match interview but given the full-back's inept display in this one, there seems little likelihood he will have the need to acquaint himself properly with the pronunciation. The defender was an obvious chink in the Tynecastle side's armour as he was left bewildered by the quick movement and sharp thinking of the St Johnstone attacking line. As Kenny Deuchar and Steven Milne busied themselves by patrolling back and forth along the Hearts rearguard ready pounce on any gap, Filipe Morais was in devilish form down the left flank. The ease of his build-up play was assisted by the fact he was so often left in open space, with time to deliver the pass or switch play and given plenty of options by his team-mates who were keen to get up and trouble the visitors.

It had been a similar story earlier in the season when these teams met. St Johnstone had been the greater creative forces but that day they were felled by missed opportunities, which allowed Hearts to eventually come back into things and claim a result. But that was before Jefferies had taken the helm. While at Kilmarnock he had engineered two victories over the Perth side but with no time to work with the Hearts players he had to hope they could suss things out for themselves. They couldn't. However, a combination of decent marking by the centre-halves and wasteful finishing by the home strikers meant they were in touch with their hosts for longer than they were entitled to be.

Derek McInnes' men were far brighter from the outset. In the fifth minute Morais strung a pass along the 18-yard line for the in-rushing Chris Millar to meet but his shot was taken by Marian Kello in the visitors goal. A minute later a Morais cross to the back post almost curled inside the upright, while in the 11th minute the former Hibs midfielder combined once again with Millar, who drove into the box before threading the ball through to Milne, but he was off balance and scooped it up over the bar.

Hearts were lagging behind when it came to carving out any kind of effort on target and if Jefferies had been harbouring any illusions that he could make a silk purse from the sow's ear of striking options he has at his disposal, this 90 minutes will surely have disabused him of that notion. There is already talk linking him with his former Rugby Park charge, Kevin Kyle, and whether that is substantiated or not, a goalgetter is needed. There may be a new manager but the same old problem persists.

Rubens Palazuelos, Lee Wallace and Scott Robinson were enforced absentees, with Andrew Driver making his first appearance since 7 November. But other than those necessary, Hearts had made no other changes to their starting line, with the new manager claiming he had relied heavily on the input of senior players, including captain Michael Stewart, and any remaining backroom staff to help him with the selection. He will have his own thoughts after this 90 minutes, though, as he now looks ahead to the Co-operative Insurance Cup semi-final against St Mirren on Tuesday night.

In the 51st minute, St Johnstone eventually took the lead their play had deserved. Morais played the ball on to Danny Grainger and the left back drove down the flank before swinging a low ball in for Deuchar to side-foot into the net from close range.

The also had a penalty claim in the 72nd minute when Millar went down under Kucharski's tackle but the referee waved the claims aside.

It took until the final few minutes for the capital team to finally conjure up a threat and Grainger had to make a great clearing header to deny substitute Gordon Smith, while the very last action of the game saw Smith stab home a shot in a crowded box from a Nade cut-back only to be denied by the backside of Gary Irvine on the goal-line. It was justice and with both teams looking ahead to cup semi-finals, it appears Jefferies has more work to do in the next few days than a contented McInnes.